Garner Truly Thanks God For His Latest Starring Role

February 25, 2000|By Bonnie Churchill, Entertainment News Service.

HOLLYWOOD — James Garner is busier than a cowboy at roundup time. Sitting in an easy chair with his well-worn western boots propped up on a stool, he admitted, "I've even got our retirement ranch in Santa Barbara, Calif., up for sale. We're just never there. I guess it'll be a spell before I hang up my spurs."

Not much chance the Oklahoma native will be taking it easy, sitting on the porch, any time soon. Garner co-stars with Clint Eastwood in the upcoming feature "Space Cowboys," playing a former astronaut who never made it into space; joins the cast of TV's "Chicago Hope" for four episodes at the end of this season, playing a hostile takeover executive; has signed on for Disney's feature-length animated picture "Atlantis," voicing the villain; and lends his voice to the new animated TV series "God, the Devil and Bob" (which debuts on NBC Thursday, March 9, before moving to its regular Tuesday-night slot).

How did this "comeback" happen? "Well," he said, taking a deep breath, "life holds more surprises than a cat has lives. To tell the truth, all this activity kind of sneaked up on me. My wife and I felt my `Rockford' days of punching out guys and rolling over the hood of a car were past, and we'd just watch the sunset from the front porch."

He was referring to his 400-acre ranch just a couple of healthy yodels away from Michael Jackson's property, near Santa Barbara. No small cottage, it's a 12,000-square-foot house surrounded by 26 acres planted in chardonnay vines, plus a lake filled with fish.

Garner continued, "Then the phone started ringing with all these wonderful offers, and we decided, `Heck, let's stay in the business for a while.' Since my wife, Lois, had never lived more than 20 miles from where she was born, moving her out in the country at this stage in our lives wasn't the smartest idea I ever had."

When he accepted the role in "Atlantis" he learned that, "It takes a minimum of work just supplying the voice for a character. Disney tells me it will take several years to complete the process of wedding the voices to the artwork. When I recorded some of the dialogue, they said they'd call me back in 18 months to do some more. I said, `18 months? Can't you speed things up? At my age, I don't even buy green bananas!"'

Soon, Garner's agent called and began the conversation with, "Would you like to play God?" According to the actor, "That's an offer you can't refuse." Leaning forward in his chair, he lowered his voice and added, "We've both known a few personalities who already think they are."

Garner plays the voice of God in the animated prime-time series, "God, the Devil and Bob," with Alan Cumming, who won a Tony for his performance in "Cabaret," speaking for the devil; French Stewart, the squinty alien on "Third Rock From the Sun," voicing the words for Bob; and Nancy Cartwright (the voice of Bart Simpson on "The Simpsons") bringing to life Bob's feisty young teen daughter, Megan.

"This has got to be the most fun I've had," Garner said. "You show up, no makeup, no costume, no memorizing lines. Just stand in front of a microphone and read some of the most amusing dialogue ever written. Who could turn that down?"

What about his new movie? A year ago, Garner was playing golf with Clint Eastwood, and they were reminiscing about their "salad days." "We used to live across the street from each other. We had the same business manager, and he had us buying interest in the apartment buildings where we lived. It made sense to me, for I figured I'd always have a place to hang my hat. Clint and I had worked together in an episode of `Maverick.' As we were teeing off, I remember saying, `It'd be fun to do that again."'

Clint replied, "Hit the ball," and that was the end of that, or so Garner thought.

A few months later Eastwood was directing and starring in "Space Cowboys" and thought Garner would be perfect for a co-starring role as the former astronaut who became a priest. So he asked, "How would you like to work together again?"

"How long does it take to say yes?" Big Jim asked in return.

"Space Cowboys" is the story of four former astronauts who are called back by NASA. Their technology had built a space station, now it was losing its orbit, and they wanted the vets to go into space to fix it. The cast includes Eastwood, Garner, Tommy Lee Jones and Donald Sutherland.

"Clint runs a great set," Garner said. "He makes everything easy; there's no stress. He hires people who know what they are doing and he lets them do it. You do two or three takes, and you're out of there."

Born James Scott Bumgarner 71 years ago in Norman, Okla., Garner could ride a horse before he could run. At 16, he joined the Merchant Marines. Later he went into the Army and was shipped to Korea. A wound, a Purple Heart and an honorable discharge brought him home, and to acting.

He's been successful on both the big and small screen. First, his long-running TV series, "Maverick," then six years starring and producing "The Rockford Files," plus 12 more years of eight Rockford movies for TV. He has won an Emmy, been nominated for an Oscar (in 1985, for "Murphy's Law") and has his own production company, Cherokee. He and Lois have been married 44 years and have two daughters and a son.

Garner confided, "I don't think I ever wanted to retire. I just figured, as I got older there'd be less job offers. But the reverse happened. In the last five years, I've worked as much as I've ever worked.

"Maybe it's a good thing," he said and grinned. "I have a wife who is a really good shopper."